reviews

​Lone Justice (from the album Western Tapes, 1983 available on Omnivore Recordings)The Western Tapes 1983is a fly-on-studio-wall listening to Lone Justice when they entered the studio for early recordings. Producer Marvin Etzioni met Maria McKee (vocals) and Ryan Hedgecock (guitar) in 1982 when the pair were performing as a duo with Hank Williams and George Jones covers. Marvin suggested writing originals and with the addition of Dave Harrington (bass) and Don Willens (drums) Lone Justice entered the studio with a batch of songs. The Western Tapes 1983hears a band falling in love with the music they are making.

The “Drugstore Cowboy” demo from The Western Tapes 1983has appeared on various compilations since its recording though the sibling tracks found on the release never made it past the vaults. Two of the cuts on The Western Tapes 1983, “Working Late” and “Don’t Toss Us Away”, were reworked on the Lone Justice self-titled major label debut. Lone Justice barrel alongside a Country tale of leaving boarding “The Train” and close out the E.P, with the desert rhythms of “How Lonesome Life Has Been”. Marvin Etzioni would become a band member of Lone Justice for their debut and he recalled those early days soundtracked on The Western Tapes 1983as ‘countless hours together, it was a fun and innocent time. I believed we were creating a 21st century country band’.